Cup Characteristics: A tangy dose of tamarind makes for an extremely complex and wonderful cup. With an elegance that keeps the mouthfeel lofted, Flor de Café remains on the palate with sweet, candied pastries.

Sourcing information: Huehuetenango is an adventure. It takes about 6 hours by car to get there, but if the roads were straight and free of túmulos (the local term for speed-bumps) it would take a mere 3 hours.

Huehuetenango is in the highlands of Northwestern Guatemala, the expanses are considerably more barren than most of the fertile, tropical country. After the long drive as you approach the Mexican border the main road spurs off toward two valleys. Take your first left and you head into the high plateaus of Northern Huehuetenango with famed farms El Injerto and La Maravilla, while the second left takes you on a straight path along the sub continental divide.

The left turn also leads you directly to Flor del Café, which is a farm that reaches all the way to the border of Mexico (the owners are dual-citizens). They mainly grow Bourbon and Pacamara, but Bourbon is most prevalent in the highest regions of the farm. Oswaldo Perez has been able to keep this farm in the family. He and his brothers inherited it from his father, and Perez bought it outright from them. Since buying it, he has strengthened the condition of the farm as well as diversified the cultivar make-up of the farm.

A ten-minute walk through the paths of coffee will lead you right to the border of Mexico (Chiapas to be specific). Once over the border, the coffee immediately looks less healthy, less full. Perez says this is simply a cultural difference between the two regions and owners of the land.